Turkish Delight

On our recent trip, we were forced to make a short stopover in Istanbul on our return leg. And with an 8-hour layover, we decided to take the opportunity to get out of the airport and take in some of the sights.

We were not sure what to expect. But since any mention of Istanbul only brings to mind fond memories of a night back in 2005 for the husband (though I was really more fascinated with the fact that we would be visiting the cradle of civilization), we were rather looking forward to it.

Prior to touching down, I asked DD what he thought the city would have been like and his reply was “old like Prague, but messier and more chaotic”. It wasn’t like that at all. Instead, while driving into the old part of the city, we found ourselves going by sections which really looked could have passed off for Australia with lots of greenery and low apartment blocks. There were also plenty of tulips in bloom by the side of the streets which was really lovely.

Having only around 4 -5 daylight hours after having touched down at 3+ pm, we had our sights set on visiting the most fundamental of attractions – the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofya.

We headed to the Blue Mosque first. Honestly an amazingly beautiful building, both inside and out.

Just to prove I was there! 😛

One gripe though – because they made everyone take off their shoes before entering – this is a working mosque after all – while walking around, we kept getting distinct whiffs of… FEET. Eeew. No wonder aside from covering their head, many of the ladies around covered most of their face!

Nice as the Blue Mosque was though, the Aya Sofya was the way more fascinating site.

It was impressive. Firstly, it was MASSIVE for a church, even after considering those in Italy which we just visited. It wasn’t as ornate or elaborately decorated as other churches we’d seen, but it was awe-inspiring in a “I-can’t-believe-this-building-is-more-than-2000-years-old” way. The same applied to intricate mosaics on the walls, all dating back to the 9th, 10th etc. Century. Plus it was intriguing seeing all the Arabic inscriptions next to depictions of Christ!

The building was a constructed as a church in the Byzantine era (by Justinian, no less) until the Turkish conquest when it was converted it into a mosque by installing the Arabic inscriptions and white-washing the mosaics. These were only uncovered in the 20th Century.

(If you think I look uncomfortable, it was becuase it was freezing and we were terribly underdressed!)

After just those few hours we were sure we wanted to come back! There’s still the Topkapi Palace, the Bosphorus and the Covered Bazaar…

For DD though, I think this was what swung it:

THE YUMMMMMMY FOOD!

Our next holiday, maybe…